watts riots

watts riots in Culture

Watts riots definition

A group of violent disturbances in Watts, a largely black section of Los Angeles, in 1965. Over thirty people died in the Watts riots, which were the first of several serious clashes between black people and police in the late 1960s.

Note: Los Angeles was the scene of another riot in 1992, triggered by the acquittal of white police officers accused of beating an African-American man named Rodney King.